


Out in the cold

by frostfalcon



Series: Out in the Cold [1]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 00:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2792873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostfalcon/pseuds/frostfalcon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was done for the White Collar H/C advent on LJ for 2014, the prompt was: </p><p>An op goes wrong on the coldest day of the year, and Neal wanders off into the snow while drugged and wearing little more than jeans and a t-shirt. Peter and the team mount a search and rescue - where will they find Neal?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out in the cold

**Author's Note:**

> Started: 10/15/2014  
> Posting Date: 12/17/2014
> 
> I wanted to get a little deeper into this story but I had so much going on that I didn't go into the "comfort" part as much as I had intended. I may come back and flesh it out at a later date but I am back in school full time and working so time is scarce.
> 
> Edit - 11/20/15 While working on the sequel I noticed a few errors in this so I'm fixing them... nothing really major just grammar stuff.

It was just a few days before Christmas and the weather was unseasonably cold, New York winters didn’t really get to be this cold even with the wild chill until the end of January. Peter looked around again and Neal was no where to be found, he hoped they had just gotten separated and as soon as the rest of the task force had finished gathering up the suspects he’d come wandering back with coffee and assorted pastries for them to celebrate bringing down what they originally had thought was an art smuggling ring, but in fact had been much more. They found art, drugs and some evidence of human trafficking in the warehouse they had raided this afternoon. 

Peter was glad he had just more than his team along for this one as it was a much larger operation than they had originally thought, Stanislaus Wieczorek’s name had come up in their investigation, he was linked to another investigation and there had already been a task force set up to go after him so it had made sense to combine their efforts, it had paid off. They had been able to shut down the whole east coast part of his network, capture three of the top men and one other had been killed in the raid. The FBI had suffered a few injuries, one pretty severe but no one had died. It was a major win for the good guys and they now had a lead on Wieczorek himself as well as the possible location for the most recent victims of his human trafficking operation. 

Hopefully they’d be able to find and rescue what the manifest said were thirty-two crates of gourmet gift baskets, but their inside man said were really young women and a few men kidnapped from the poorer areas of a number of Eastern European cities. Based on the windowless, locked room with a bunch of cheap, dirty blankets and some pieces of clothing that was left behind they were pretty sure the inside man was right and that they weren’t that far behind and could catch up and save the victims before they ended up vanishing forever to fate none of them wanted to contemplate. 

Peter looked around and still no Neal, he had been a small part of the investigation until the very end when they needed visual confirmation that there were indeed stolen goods on the premises. They took off the anklet and he went in with the agent the task force had undercover. He posed as a potential art buyer that Agent Sorrano, who had been undercover as part of the organization was bringing in to look over the art and once they had eyes on it the raid started. There were a large number of people that had fled the warehouse during the raid and they rounded up most of them but no one had seen the people that were being held, the last remaining leader and as it turned out Neal and Agent Sorrano hadn’t been seen since the raid ended either. Peter kept an eye out and asked the agents still milling about if they had seen him and they all hadn’t, he was starting to get worried. 

***

Neal was feeling a bit off, woozy and just over all disconnected, he vaguely remembered going in with agent Sorrano to see the art and confirm that they had a reason to go ahead with the raid. They confirmed that stolen art was present and had signaled the others discretely. It was pretty easy to suck them into a conversation to keep the guys talking until the task force arrived. It was all going well until he felt something hit the back of his head. He must have gotten disoriented a bit because the next thing he knew was a lot of running and being dragged along by one of the men showing off the art. It was chilly, no make that freezing outside but the running had him warming up quickly and he started breaking out in a light sweat, he wasn’t sure if it was the exercise or the injury from whatever hit his head. He felt a wave of dizziness and almost fell but there was Sorrano and the guy from the warehouse dragging him along saying they had to get away and warn the boss. Neal was confused, wasn’t Peter the boss? and why wasn’t Sorrano leading them toward the task force? He tried to put it all together and stopped running as soon as the realization that Sorrano was betraying the FBI made the connection in his aching head, as soon as his feet stopped moving Sorrano hissed something about being a good little hostage and the other two men just kept dragging him along for a while. 

They got to a car parked well outside the perimeter the FBI had set up and shoved Neal into the back seat face down. While Sorrano watched to make sure Neal didn’t move the other guy went to the trunk and dug around for a little while.

“I have just the thing!” he said triumphantly and have up a small black case with a zipper.

“What’s that for?” Sorrano asked while trying to decide just what to do with Neal.

“I am going to dissolve some Rohypnol tablets and shoot him up, unless you think you can get him to swallow them. This way we aren’t directly responsible for his death and if he lives somehow you are still cool with the FBI since he won’t be able to remember a damn thing. I figure between the effects of the drugs, leaving him to wander in this weather and the whack to the head you gave him he’ll be lucky to remember his own name if he manages to live. Now help me get this into him.” He looked at Neal and gestured with a syringe filled with a rather innocuous looking substance in it. Neal felt groggy and wanted to struggle but with Sorrano pointing a firearm at him he figured his best chance was letting them go ahead with their plan, it would buy him time to either find a way to get out of this or for Peter to swoop in and save they day.

They pulled off Neal’s suit jacket and rolled him over and while Sorrano held him down the other managed to get the needle into a vein on the first try.

“Done this before have you?” Sorrano asked with a cruel smirk.

“You have no idea. Give it a minute to kick in and let him up then point him toward that area over there and give him a shove.” He said as he pulled the now empty syringe out of Neal’s arm and pointed to a run down abandoned industrial area they could see off in the distance. 

“Are you sure about this?” Sorrano looked at Neal and thought that maybe it be best to just shoot him and have done with it.

“Yeah, I’ve done this before, no blood on my hands it’s all up to chance. He could find help and be fine or between the cold, snow and drug he could O.D., freeze to death or fall into the river and drown. Totally up to chance, I believe in fate and we can just leave him to his, unless you want to see what else I have in here we can give him? It might be fun to watch but if we’re spending some time playing we better bring him someplace we can stay awhile.” 

Sorrano thought a moment, he didn‘t have anything against Caffrey personally and he wasn‘t an inherently cruel person “You’re right let’s get him out of the car and you get away from here and I’ll wander back, can you do my a favor before you go and just give me a good looking black eye or something to explain why it took me a while to get back?”

“Not a problem in fact it’ll be my pleasure. I do have a question first, who is this poor guy we are about to send out into the cold?” the guy asked Agent Sorrano as they got Neal out of the car once they were sure that the drug was taking effect. 

“His name is Neal Caffrey, I think he’s a consultant or something, he isn’t part of the same division I am.” Sorrano said looking at Neal who was looking pretty spacey while he stood docilely where they had put him, he was in nothing but a pair of dress pants, a thin white dress shirt he had been wearing under the suit jacket and a pair of fashionable, yet totally impractical shoes, it made the other men feel like they were freezing just looking at him. They gave him a bit of a shove and Neal staggered off in the direction they had aimed him, oblivious to the world around him.

“Now to take care of you.” The guy said as he pulled out a gun with a silencer and shot agent Sorrano in the chest and head. “Sorry pal, you know what I look like and you are too close to my operation.”

He watched Neal meander off towards the snow covered industrial area and as the sunset he gave a smirk and wished he had the time to consider taking him along to the next warehouse. He had a few clients that would gladly purchase a pretty man like him even if he was a little older than his typical merchandise, he usually dealt in fairly young women but sometimes he took special orders. Maybe if Neal lived through this he’d consider coming back for him, but first he had to get rid of what he had and secure a new east coast warehouse.

***

Peter looked through the warehouse and he did manage to find the wool overcoat Neal had been wearing that afternoon but no Neal. One of the other agents he had asked about Neal said something about the agent that had gone in to introduce Neal and set up the raid was also missing. They headed out of the warehouse back to the van when they saw several New York Police Department cars speeding by with full lights and sirens. Peter shivered a little and continued to the van when Jones came out to say they needed to get moving, the police were responding to a shooting and from the location and description it could be their missing agent. 

They left a few agents and the evidence collection team and went to see what to police had. They were let through the police line with their FBI badges as the police had found Sorrano’s wallet with his body and his badge was there along with all his cards and cash. Peter looked over the scene and in the slush a few feet from the body was Neal’s suit jacket.

“Jones!” Peter called out pointing out the jacket.

Jones followed Peter’s finger and saw the discarded jacket and then a few feet further was a shoe, it looked a lot like something Neal would wear. He and Peter walked over to take a closer look, it was Neal’s shoe, the left one and yet there was no other sign of Neal.

“Peter there is no way Neal shot Sorrano, what the hell happened here?” Jones sighed and tried to figured out just what could have happened and why would Neal be missing a jacket and a shoe in this weather. It was so cold that just inhaling hurt and made it feel like your nose was freezing shut, Neal had to be inside someplace, he was smart and even if he was hiding from whoever shot Sorrano he’d try to find someplace sheltered. 

“I think instead of a anklet we need to implant something. I hate this, can you see anything thing else? Another shoe? A sock maybe? Anything that will lead us to Neal, we know he was here and I’m sure he didn’t kill anyone so where is he?” Peter asked mostly to himself but Jones just shook his head and put his hands in his pockets and sighed.

“All right everybody not directly involved in this crime scene fan out, we have a man still missing and his jacket and shoe are here so he can’t have gotten far in this cold without them. You all saw Neal Caffrey, he was in the warehouse with Sorrano and we can’t do anything more for agent Sorrano other than bringing his killer to justice but there is a chance that we can help Neal. Please fan out and try to find any trace of where he is and what happened to him. It’s getting dark so be careful and keep in touch.” Peter addressed the gathered agents. He really wished that he had more people but the bulk of the team was still dealing with the warehouse.

Peter and Jones headed off following the direction the shoe was pointed in, Jones had called into the office to update them what was going on as Peter had gotten everyone looking for Neal. Mother nature was being a bitch now the temperature was going down with the sun and it was snowing again. Peter really hoped that Neal was safe and sound someplace warm.

They had wandered about a block into a neighborhood that was run down and more industrial than residential when they found some blood on the snow.

“I don’t feel good about this Peter.” pointing to the blood staining the snow.

“I hope this means he came this way, lets move on.”

***

Neal just kept putting one foot in front of another and was slowly losing speed, he kept tripping and it was getting harder to get up every time. He pushed himself up and stumbled along and bounced off of something in the snow and went down again. He couldn’t remember why he needed to keep moving, he knew he had to get away but he just couldn’t get his feet under him and didn’t have the energy to get up so this time he crawled. He couldn’t focus and had no clue how long he’d been trying to get away but he just couldn’t go any further and the pile of snow to his left looked so soft and fluffy. He managed to get to the snow pile and from his hands and knees he just let himself roll onto the snow and let go and felt himself drift, the cold not meaning much to him any more. 

***

Even though Mother Nature was a real bitch with the cold and snow she did give them something to help them out, there in the new snow was some sort of trail. They followed it hoping that is was Neal that had made it, it looked fairly new and there was a spot where it had gotten thinker and there was more blood, they were worried, even if it wasn’t Neal’s trail whoever had made it was in need of help. They continued on hoping that Neal wasn’t a frozen statue when they found him at least the trail let them pick up the pace a little.

When they got to the end of the trail it seemed to dead end by a few heaps of snow, Peter and Jones looked at each other and started to feel the piles. The first one was an old pile of scrap wood and the second was the same with some garbage mixed in, the third had Jones on his cell calling for EMS and trying to give them what they could tell as the dug Neal out of a pile of snow. 

“He has a pulse, it’s barely there and slow but he’s alive get someone here now!” Peter was demanding as Jones relayed the information to the dispatcher and then left the phone line open as he tried to help Peter take care of Neal.

They heard the ambulance pulled up and took over caring for Neal efficiently and soon had him speeding toward the hospital. Peter and Jones just stood there in shock and hoped that Neal hadn’t been too injured and too far into hypothermia to come back from this.

“Clinton, lets get a team out here to secure the scene and head to the hospital.” Peter said while he just stared in the direction the ambulance had gone in.

“Already done, we’ll be getting a ride to the hospital as well.” 

Peter looked at Jones and just wanted to be at the hospital already. Neal had been cold to the touch, he was barely breathing, his pulse was almost non-existent, there had been bloody spots left in the snow and he was totally unresponsive. The picture all this information was painting in Peter’s mind was coming together but it was still more of an abstract than a still life, as long as Neal didn’t end up a still life Peter was sure they would figure out the missing parts of the story. 

Their ride to the hospital was in the back of a patrol car and they made it there in great time but Neal was already behind closed doors and hopefully being taken care of at the moment. There wasn't much for them to do but sit in the waiting room, check in with the office and suck down what the cafeteria tried to pass off as coffee. They waited hours with El, Mozzie and Diana making appearances and taking care of the little things, this was supposed to be the holiday season, a time for joy and right now they all felt overwhelmed by uncertainty and fear for what was going on with Neal. 

Hours later Peter was still sitting on a hard chair when El leaning on his shoulder asleep a doctor walked into the waiting room. He glanced around and asked who was waiting for news on Mr. Caffrey.

“Doctor, how is he? I’m his friend and I am also listed as his medical power of attorney at the moment. I had the FBI offices fax over the paperwork so it’d be in his file.” Peter said while trying to gently wake El.

“He’s in very poor condition, he thought he was hypothermic and for the most part that is the worst part of his condition but we found that he was also injected with a fairly high dose of Rohypnol. Hypothermia and Rohypnol overdoses have very similar symptoms and cause a number of life threatening problems so getting him stable is taking a longer than time then we had anticipated. His respiratory system is very distressed and his heart is struggling. There are other concerns including the blow to the rear of his head, frostbite and some damage to his knee. The next few days are going to be critical and we are going to keep a close eye on his vitals.” the doctor said trying to sound reassuring but not quite making it.

“Rohypnol? Oh don’t say he…” Peter started and the doctor held up a hand to stop Peter from completing the thought.

“Once we got the blood work back we checked, it’s a sorry state of affairs that makes us have to put in place a procedure but your friend wasn’t assaulted in that manner. We’ve admitted him and he is up in the Intensive Care Unit until we get him fully stable. You may want to head home and get some sleep and cleaned up, Mr. Caffrey is going to be out for a while and you will need to take care of yourselves as well.” The doctor suggested and he headed back through the doors.

“Sweetheart, Neal’s alive and that is a good thing, let’s go home and rest. We can come back tomorrow and hopefully things will be looking better by then.” El said as she stood and tried to nudge Peter into getting up as well.

They headed to the door, Peter not putting up any resistance as El led him to the car and drove them home.

The lights from the decorations along their street reflected red on the snow and all Peter could think about was the small trail and patches of Neal’s blood that helped lead them to him. It had to be all right, Neal had to come through this or life would just never be right again.

*** 

Going to and from the hospital the check on Neal and trying to wrap up the case were exhausting but Peter and the team wanted to get it all wrapped up as soon as possible, they all had plans for the holidays but those had to be changed with Neal in ICU and still hanging on, he had improved and the medical team was cautiously optimistic that he’d pull through but it was frustrating just waiting and not having free access to see him, the few minutes they got didn't feel long enough. The doctor wanted him to regain consciousness before they changed him to another room, he wasn’t in a coma but he wasn’t really coming too either so it was like they all were in limbo just waiting for something to happen.

It was on the fifth day since he had been brought in that Neal opened his eyes blinked once at El’s concerned face and then promptly fell back into the darkness knowing he wasn’t alone. El on the other hand broke out in a smile and quickly hit the call button to alert someone that Neal had opened his eyes if only for a few seconds. The nurse seemed pleased and said she’d inform the doctors and said that he may start coming around for a longer periods of time soon and that it was a good sign. El called Peter to let him know that things were going well and that he might want to pass along the good news. 

Later that night Neal opened his eyes again and this time it was Peter by his bedside taking his turn visiting.

“Welcome back buddy, how do you feel?” Peter asked as he pressed the call button. 

Neal seemed to think for a while and blinked several times very slowly. Peter noticed his concentration and was a bit concerned. 

“Neal, you’re in the hospital and you will be fine but for now take it easy and try not to worry too much. The nurse should be in soon, so maybe stay awake for her visit and we can go from there.” Peter said as he looked toward the door as the nurse came in.

“Mr. Caffrey, it’s nice to see you awake, can you tell me how you feel?” She asked as she took note of his pulse and made a entry on his chart.

Neal looked at her and tried to say that he was tired but he just managed a sigh and a shrug. He closed his eyes and drifted off again.

“Don’t worry Mr. Burke, he’s going to be a bit more awake each time he comes too. Last time all he did was open his eyes, this time he tried to interact and answer my question, next time he’ll probably be more lucid.” She said as she left.

Peter just waited by the bed until the end of the visiting period and headed home, the next turn was Mozzie’s and that would be in the morning. He was at least happy to see Neal was really waking up.

Peter had heard from El, who was taking the afternoon visiting period that Neal woke up while Mozzie was there and had been awake long enough to have a few sips of water before he went back to sleep. Now it was the evening visitation and Peter was talking to Neal as he slept.

“Too bad this wasn’t a Rom Com, you would have woken up on Christmas and been fine.” Peter said barely above a whisper.

“I’d hate to be that predictable.” he heard in reply, it wasn’t very clear but it was Neal’s voice.

“Neal? How are you?” He asked quietly.

Neal thought for a moment and tried to smile, “I’m confused, what happened?” 

“You managed to give the doctors a run for their money, you’re going to be fine it’s just going to take a while. Now let’s get them in here to look you over and maybe get you a room where we can keep you company more often.” Peter brushed Neal’s hair out of his eyes and smiled.

“Sounds like a plan…” Neal said as he smiled, each word was clearer and he was feeling more with it by the moment, even if he was still on the edge of falling asleep.

When the doctor came into the room he had Peter step out. The exam didn’t take long and they were making arrangements for Neal to get transferred into a normal room now that it seemed like he really was going to be conscious and no longer running the risk of falling into a coma or anything like that.

***  
It didn’t take too much longer before they were sending Neal home with a list of instructions and a few suggestions about consulting a counselor if he was bothered by the lack of memories from the day of his injuries. The last clear memory he had was of Peter’s hands taking off the anklet before he went with agent Sorrano. He was sad to hear that the agent had been killed but thanks to the head injury and the drugs he had no idea what had gone on inside the warehouse that evening.

He was really happy to hear that even though he’d been injected with a date rape drug nothing had happened. He still had headaches and his knee which had turned out to be the source of the bleeding was scabbed over and also gave him a few twinges but slowly he was getting back to being fine. 

The team had held off on the holiday celebrations until he was safely tucked away in the Burke’s guestroom so that he could be there with them. 

It wasn’t the happiest of endings, but he was alive and they would get another chance to shut down Wieczorek’s operation and with a lot of hard work and a little luck they could still find the people he was trafficking.


End file.
